Jerrit John case: Police fail to find acid bottle; court grants four more days

Nov 14, 2014, 09:52 IST
|
Sailee Dhayalkar

This the second time the Dadar police has been granted more days to trace the bottle that may have been used by Jerrit John to throw acid on his girlfriend two years ago

Two years after a television producer was charged for throwing acid on his girlfriend’s face, it has now emerged that a crucial piece of evidence in the court trial — the bottle that may have been used to throw the acid — has gone missing from the Dadar police’s custody.

Jerrit John was arrested for allegedly flinging acid on his former girlfriend two years ago. File pic

On November 6, 2012, Jerrit John (45), the owner of the No Nonsense, a production house, allegedly flung acid at his former girlfriend, city-based cyclist, Aryanka Hosbetkar. Prior to the attack, their relationship was strained after Hosbetkar found out that Jerrit was married and had a five-year-old son. Jerrit is currently under trial for several charges, including attempt to murder.

The Dadar police, which is investigating the case, had possession of the bottle they found at the crime scene. However, it was not with the police when the case was presented at court yesterday. The court has now granted the police four days to locate the bottle.

This is the second time the court has had to grant the police extra time, after it had already given two days to the cops to trace the bottle earlier.

According to a witness to the panchnama at the crime scene — Atul Sheth, a garage owner — when the police had called him to the crime scene to witness the procedure, he had seen the bottle. “It was a silver-coloured bottle and had the words ‘Swiss Made’ written on it. The police seized the bottle and put it in an envelope on which they took my signature as well,” he added.

However, on Thursday, when he was brought to witness stand to identify the bottle, the police did not have it. Cops said that the bottle had been sent to the forensic department, and was untraceable since then. Senior Police Inspector Nishikant Patil, from Dadar police station, said, “We have sent a letter to the forensic department, but they said that they have already given it to an official in our team. That official has now been shifted to another team, and we will soon enquire about the bottle.”